That being said, let me now state the obvious: GO VOTE FOR ME!!!I'll lower your taxes, enact a nation-wide concealed-carry law, and outlaw socialism in America!!!Also, I will issue free DVD's of 24, to be paid for by money and property confiscated from evil and/or traitorous enemies.This includes entities such as the ACLU, SAG, NAMBLA, and CBS.

I also note that many of my blogging friends are nominated over there, as well.You are all dead to me now. Good luck to all of you as well!!Heh.

Seriously, though... Good luck to all, and good luck to me!

I'm jimmyb, and I approved this message.I also totally rock.

Paid for by the Committee to Totally Get As Many Superfluous Blog Awards As Possible for CUG, copyright 2006, 14, blue, hike!

Monday, January 30, 2006

The man says "Yes, I am. But that shouldn't make a difference. If I asked for a taco, would you ask if I was Mexican? If I asked for a brautwurst, would you ask if I was German? If I asked for pizza would you ask if I was Italian?"

WASHINGTON -- Orders to American factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a third consecutive increase in December, closing out a record year for the nation's factories.

The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods rose by 1.3 percent in December to $228.1 billion as demand for military aircraft, machinery and autos all posted strong gains.

For all of 2005, ordrs increased by 8.2 percent to an all-time high of $2.51 trillion. Orders for durable goods had risen by 10 percent in 2004 and 4.2 percent in 2003 after posting declines in 2002 and 2001, the year the country was in recession.

...

Analysts are looking for manufacturing to be a source of strength this year, spurred by increased investment by businesses to expand and modernize their operations.

Critics of the war in Iraq often complain about the “escalating cost of the war.” Listening to them, you’d never know that the war is one of the least expensive in American history.

Robert Whaples, professor of economics at Wake Forest University, has measured the cost of each major American war up through the first Gulf War. We took these costs and compared them to the cost of the Iraq war and found that the Iraq experience has consumed a smaller percentage of GDP (just 2 percent of one year’s wealth creation) than every other American war except the first Gulf War (which measured just 1 percent of GDP).

This stands in stark contrast to the Vietnam experience, which opponents have often attempted to liken to the Iraq war. Vietnam comprised a much heartier 12 percent of GDP at the time. Other conflicts, such as World War II, took a remarkable 130 percent of a year’s GDP to see through to success.

The work is not done in Iraq, and the financial costs will grow beyond the $251 billion we have spent so far. The real cost, of course, is in human lives, manifested in the debate about whether it is worth losing a few thousand American lives in order to liberate 23 million people. But the data are clear; any attempt to discredit this war based on its effect on the U.S. economy is an unnecessary distraction.

Seeing that the apocalypse has now officially begun, jimmyb, your lovely and quick-witted host, has a list of pertinent things that Canadians need to know before the conservatives destroy their country and turn it into a theocratic 3rd-world s**t-hole like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

So here is the official CUG Top 10 List of tips, tricks, and observations regarding the coming evil conservative Aryan theocracy:

10. Women: Quick!!! Get an abortion. Better yet, get two. Today! Last chance!This government doesn't just want control of your uterus; they want control of your pancreas and your third lumbar vertebrae, too!!!!

Burkas for all!!! Muhahahaha!!!

An aside: One man suggested the government having control over boobies, too.He was publicly hanged as a degenerate, as it was also rumored he had extramarital sex once, and IT WASN'T EVEN IN THE MISSIONARY POSTIION!!Freakin' heretics.

9. Also, if you're a woman go vote for something today; it will be your last time.Suffrage smuffrage.I'll bet you're sorry you didn't vote now!(Is it a coincidence that suffrage has the word rage in it?)

8. Buy a bullet-proof vest. And not one of those crappy ones the US military has, get the official gay Sean Penn vest. It deflects bullets, reason, and good movie roles.

The reason for this is that the NRA will now be handing out assault weapons, rocket launchers and Sidewinder missiles to any kid big enough to say Chuck (Heston), homeless people (there aren't any in Canada, but there will be soon!), junkies, and anybody who contributes to the NRA!!!

Of course, children under 4 will only get .38 revolvers and hand-grenades, as the NRA supports common sense gun control. You gotta draw the line somewhere!

7. If you're poor, kill yourself; beat the conservatives to it!

6. Bypass the now doomed entitlement system and give you money directly to heroin addicts, bums, welfare queens, and drunks. They'll spend it as wisely as the government does, probably moreso.(Is it still charity if it's not forced by threats of violence? Heh. Tax collections...)

5. Slavery. It's back.In the spirit of diversity, Canada won't just be enslaving African-Canadians; they will be enslaving women, Muslims, homosexuals, and gnomes, as well.

Of course, the small percentage of Muslims that work in terrorist cells will be exempt from this by an executive order from the previous prime minister, with help from the ACLU (yes, they cross borders), allowing terror-cells to function with impunity.

Also, the small percentage of gnomes that are underpants-gnomes will be exempt, due to their vital role in the economy (Step 3 - Profits!).

Homosexuals will be herded into forced-interior-decorating camps, and high-fashion prisons, to make smart and nifty burkas.

Women will be barefoot and pregnant, and will also have to make me a sammich, whenever I want.

4. If you're a heroin addict or a drunk, STOCK UP! The gravy-train is pulling out of the station and it's going to run over your a** and squish you!

3. People who are not Christians will not be persecuted, unless they are Satanists or Frisbeeterians, who believe that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof, and you can’t get it back down.These people will be forcibly converted to Christianity.(Didn't Jesus say something about thumbscrews being ok? I'm pretty sure he did. Oh, well. Whatever.)This does not take the option of persecuting non-Christians in the future off of the table...

2. Cuba will be embargoed. Anyone flying to Cuba from Canada has to stay there, forever. Tell Elian I said hi and I'm really sorry...

1. George Bush will make all decisions for Canada now, instead of only half of them.Woo-hoo!! Missile Defense Shield!!!

Of course, the old CUGster here will be available for consulting on these and all other aspects of Canadian government (or America Lite, as we like to call it here).

There you have it folks.Your operational manual for the new Canadian Renaissance.

Can you believe you get this level of profundity for free?Only at the CUG site.

49 out of 50 reloads worked peachy!1 wouldn't chamber (it was out of the middle of the batch, too). Curious.May have to gauge them all for a while.Onward.

Off the bench, these rounds were holding a group about half-dollar size, or less. Of course, standing, one-handed that group size grows to roughly the size of Wyoming.But at least now I can make plenty of ammo to practice with!

The gun:

Ahhhh.The gun is a Series 80 Mark IV Gold Cup - National Match, by Colt Firearms (of course).It has a 30mm Tasco red dot scope on top, with no magnification. It's an older scope, but functional.The trigger pull is in the 2 1/2 to 3 pound range. It has just a little bit of creep, but ultimately breaks clean at the end; still pretty sweet, overall.It is a lovely piece, handles beautifully, and sits in my hand like it belongs there.It has a few cosmetic flaws, but nothing unexpected for a gun of it's age (made in the 80's) that gets used.It has been well cared for.It is just plain purty.

I purchased this .45 for the expressed purpose of shooting target competitions, along with a Hi-Standard M107 Military model 22 pistol (to be seen later) to shoot center-fire and rim-fire, respectively.I'm having trouble with the Hi-Standard ejecting properly, so I'm using a MK II Ruger until the problem is resolved...

Thursday, January 19, 2006

The picture above depicts a Thompson/Center chambered in .45 ACP. You don't see very many T/C's in that caliber at all! It is a BLAST to shoot, and is quite sturdy, so one can shoot pretty hot rounds through it. It is also quite accurate. If you have never shot one, it is a single-shot weapon, and breaks in the middle to load (like a double barrel shotgun does). This was my first experience with a T/C, and I can honestly say it was pretty cool.*sigh*Another one for the wish list...

Here are a couple of sweet wheel-guns:

The top pistol is a Smith and Wesson Model 17 in 22 Long Rifle with an 8 3/8" barrel.Nice and heavy, and a tack driver to boot (with the right operator that is).

The bottom one is a stainless steel Smith and Wesson Classic Hunter in .41 Mag with (I think) a 6 or 7" barrel.This is the second .41 Magnum I have shot, and I am developing an affinity for this round.It makes a nice bang, has good muzzle energy, but is still relatively managable from a recoil standpoint (for a round of that magnitude!).Truly a hoot to shoot! (The wish list continues to grow.)

Thanks to H for letting me drool on and use the revolvers, and also a thank you to B for allowing me the unique pleasure of firing the T/C, too!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Pretty cool stuff, and the 2006 list has already started!Congrats to the New York Times for continuing to be traitorous, lying asshats, as they usually are.You're first on Cassandra's 2006 list.Keep up the great work!

Cassandra, on the other hand, does do great work at The Cassandra Page.Here is a small sample; go read it all, though.Scope it out, yo!

3) January 12, 2005. The allegedly anti-war soldier that committed suicide-by-police. The MSM portrayed a gunman in California as desperate to avoid a return to combat, while failing to mention that he had never seen combat, was not headed for combat and had a history of violence before ever entering the military under murky circumstances......The drug use, the gang ties, etc. - all went unreported in the MSM in the MSM/DNC attempt to undermine the war effort.

8. February 10, 2005 - BBC reports a bogus story of a man who was jailed by the Israeli Army for refusing to shoot children. The only problem is, the story is false. BBC later retracted the story, but refused to back off claims that Israeli policy is to shoot children. Hat tip to LGF.

9. Ongoing lie dating back to 2003 and continuing probably throughout 2005 - "There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Without getting into the arguments over the justification for the war, this myth is simply false. American and coalition forces found enough WMD's to kill more people than the number that died on 9-11. The real question is, what happened to the WMD's that we didn't find and that were taken away while we were debating in the UN in 2002 and early 2003.

update - The New York Times admits (on 3/13/05) the existence of WMD's in Iraq at the time of the U.S. led invasion, but only for the purpose of attacking Bush over something else. Once NYT has finished attacking Bush, the WMD's disappear down the memory hole.

29. May 14-15, 2005. Newsweek runs a false story that U.S. soldiers flushed the Koran in front of Islamic detainees. 15 people die in the "Newsweek riots." Newsweek lied - people died.

It just goes on and on.Go read the whole post, it is very eye-opening!These are some of the reasons I became a Republican and a conservative.The "win at all costs" and "the end justifies the means" dispositions prevalent in Leftyland. Truth is the first casulty with those attitudes...

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Jack discovers the mole has been exchanging information with known traitors and terrorist-coddling, leftist tree-huggers.

Using a fundraiser raising money for out-of-work terrorist, Jack rounds up Moore, Kennedy, Murtha, Reid, Pelosi, and several others.Once at the fundraiser, he lures them to a warehouse with a hippy whistle.

A hippy whistle is like a deer whistle or duck call, but it makes a sound like

"Help, I'm being oppressed by evil conservatives, and I need a late term abortion and some more welfare!!!"

or

"Aaaagghhh! Someone's driving an SUV and they're not rich actors or politicians!"

Jack then subsequently tortures them by saying a prayer to Jesus and shoving Ronald Reagan pictures in their faces ("THIS IS A REAL PRESIDENT, YOU F***ING TRAITOROUS COMMIES!!! YOU PROBABLY LIKE SINKING LOGIC CONTROLS, TOO!!!).

Of course, the spineless leftists immediately spill their guts (and not a small amount of urine, either) and tell Jack everything.

Once Jack has the information, he lets them go summarily executes them for crimes against the state.He is aquitted one week later by a jury of his peers real Americans.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Update: I do have gasoline for my back-up generator.Update: I do have back-up magazines for my .45.Update: In true 24 fashion, the show has once again pi$$ed me and my wife off, by making us wait to see what happens next!!!

A real conversation at work towards the end of the day Friday.

Co-Worker: What are you doing this weekend?

Conservative UAW Guy: Well, Sunday night I'm going to be home with the phones unplugged, all the doors locked, two pistols, some munchies, a brew, and a very large "Do Not Disturb" sign hung on the front of the house.

CW: What?!?!?! Why?

CUG: Dude! The season premier of 24 is on! Do you live in a cave or something?

I wonder if New York Times editor and reporter David E. Rosenbaum was saying"Thank God I don't have an evil, redneck, knuckle-dragger firearm.", as he was beaten to death by his (at large) attackers. He was anti-gun; but all the way to the very end? I wonder.

How many deaths are attributable to liberals disarming law-abiding citizens.

The world may never know...

I'm quite certain the Times is glad he wasn't armed."Think of the children, David."

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.

Last week, a court in the city of Rasht, northern Iran, sentenced Delara Darabi to death by hanging charged with murder when she was 17 years old. Darabi has denied the charges.

In August 2004, Iran’s Islamic penal system sentenced a 16-year-old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, to death after a sham trial, in which she was accused of committing “acts incompatible with chastity”.

The teenage victim had no access to a lawyer at any stage and efforts by her family to retain one were to no avail. Atefeh personally defended herself and told the religious judge that he should punish those who force women into adultery, not the victims. She was eventually hanged in public in the northern town of Neka.

Remember kids, no culture is better than another. It's just that we don't understand them.OK, I lied.Our culture is far superior to that.

These girls executions, while attributable to radical Islam, do not make the list of "terror attacks". Maybe there should be another list.

Also remember, that attack number 4,021 (or whatever) could kill three or four million people...Who knows?Yet the left wants us to play nice and roll over. That is why they need to be run out of office (more).

less than I did last week!!!After my bout of depression due to my abysmal shooting scores, I went to practice some more.And more.Yee-haw!This, (below) is one of the results. That's a 91 (3X) out of 100.Passable, to be sure.

But Spock! Can he do it Tuesday when actually shooting in the league?

Logically, Jim, he can. But that does not mean he will...

We shall see tomorrow.(FYI, the black 9 ring is 3" across.)This is what I scored in practice in rimfire and center-fire, respectively.

RF 247 254 253 244

CF 136 159

These are shot at 50ft, one handed. One slow fire target and two timed fire targets, with 10 shots/target for a total of 30 shots up to 300 (perfect score) points.Slow fire - 10 shots in up to 10 minutes.Timed fire - 5 shots in 10 seconds, two sets on two targets.30 shots grand total on 3 targets.

I can't practice as much center fire due to A. Cost, and B. a shortage of target ammo, which is specialized (ie handloaded). I'm getting re-set up to reload now, but have to rely on others right now. This means conservation (boo!) of ammo.

That is going to change, though!Heh.

Also, I got a 96 (out of 300, ouch!) my first center fire heat, not a 36 as I said in an earlier post.Not great, but far better than the 36 I mistakenly thought I had!

Friday, January 06, 2006

PARIS -- A gang of more than 20 youths -- thought to be North African immigrants -- terrorized hundreds of train passengers in a rampage of violence, robbery and sexual assault on New Year's Day, French officials said yesterday.

The five-hour-long criminal frenzy was "totally unacceptable," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters. "Those guilty will be found and punished, as they deserve."

They are going to get such a talking to when Dad gets home...Hmmmm. Sexual assault and robbery are unacceptable.That's one way to put it.Muslim rape is almost never reported as the hate crime that it is.Neither are honor killings.

The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year's Eve partying overnight.

WTF? 20 to 30 vs 600?!?!?!? Chivalry is dead in France folks.30 vs 600? And no firearms?Try that crap in NY city. I think the smiting would be swift and ruthless.As they went car to car, couldn't these people band together, like they did with the shoe-bomber? Heck, he had a bomb and got stopped!Ain't it great when you disarm your law-abiding populace.That's really working out well all over the place.

And with those numbers, I think Grim and Xeno could take over the whole country by themselves!Heck, I'll even loan them a few guns, but I'll bet they could do it with a rusty butter knife, a rolled-up newspaper, and a few stern looks.Then they can install me as a puppet president!

Once inside, they went wild, forcing passengers to hand over mobile phones and wallets, and slashing seats and breaking windows.

France's motto when danger is afoot: Let's roll (over).

Apparently, in France, this is considered a defensive weapon:

Only three -- two 19-year-old Moroccans and a minor, all living in France -- were arrested. Both men were being held for robbery and one also was facing charges of sexual assault. The minor was to be judged separately.Three others -- a man and two boys -- were arrested briefly in Marseille but were released despite reports they were carrying a knife, a screwdriver and a small amount of hashish.

Inspector Clouseau could not be reached for comment.Dear France: Please look up the word deterrence. And punishment.And appeasement while your at it.

Police in Nice, meanwhile, said they had escorted the group of drunken youths and put them on the train Sunday to ensure they did not cause trouble in the city.

BRILLIANT! Ship your problem criminals to someone else. Now that's some crack police work!Do they get tips from Castro, or what?Additionally, that wasn't very Nice. (Granted, that was lame.)

The opposition Socialist Party said it viewed the incident with "astonishment."It said "such acts show a worrying lack of security" and questioned why it took so long for police to rescue the passengers and why so few arrests were made.

The French Democratic Socialist Party plays the now famous DNC Katrina card!! Man, it sure is funny when Socialists and Marxist quibble.Quick, send Sean Penn over to France in a little boat! But no shotgun, Seany!!!! That's a no-no in Surrenderville!

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has championed hard-line security policies in France, partly blamed the state rail company SNCF for not communicating better with the police."The problem is that law-enforcement services didn't know that there was a promotional fare going," he said.

Note, that in true liberal style, everyone is to blame except the perpetrators.But hey, what did you expect from socialists!

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Thursday, January 05, 2006

To counterbalance my performance in the GOP and the City contest (previous post), I submit to you my handgun competition performance...

So the other night was my first night in the pistol league (like a bowling league with REALLY fast balls and no pins).

Ask me how I did...Go ahead...Ask away...

I TOTALLY SUCKED!!!!

Here's how it started:

I started out lame

Then I bit.

Then I stunk.

Then I sucked.

Then I blew.

Then I totally sucked.

(Please no sexual references in the comments, or I will change them to your detriment, and my evil humorous pleasure. However, feel free to disparage my shooting "skills" all you wish.)

In my defense, I would have fared ok in the rimfire (.22) competition.I wouldn't have even come close to winning, but I think I would have had a moderately acceptable score (for me).However, my sucky junk-a## WINCHESTER T-22 target ammo misfired on me several times, costing me points I needed badly.

AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!

Next time I'm using Eley or Jagd-Und Sport. I will have to do research: Yay!

In the center-fire (.45 ACP for me and most) I just plain choked, sucked, flaked, spazzed, whatever.I did fair in practice the night before, not stellar, but I would have just been in last place, not lapped 700 times like I was.I had 36 96 or something out of 300!!!Mondo-sucky.

We shoot one slow-fire, and two time-fired targets for rimfire and centerfire each, 50 feet, one-handed (which I never do, until now). Timed is 2 sets of 5 shots, 10 seconds per set.10 shots per target for a possible total of 300 points.

Most of the real shooters were WELL over 200, and some real close to 300 (270-280ish).

Ouch.

However, mostly unperturbed, I shall carry on so I can PROUDLY be in last place and the real shooters say, "Wow, you don't totally and unequivocally suck-a## at shooting, CUG".

I'd settle for that....

I still had fun, though.The silver lining: I need to practice, practice, practice! :)(Pictures of firearms used forthcoming.)

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

What? You thought it was just cute animals here?Heh. Time for some sweet, sweet gun pR0n!!

These first two pics are of a fully-suppressed (read silencer), scoped Marlin Papoose 70PSS with a stainless steel receiver in .22 LR. A great home varmint gun! You can shoot it out of a window of the house if you want.Nice and Q-U-I-E-T!The loudest part (with subsonic ammo) is the bolt cycling back and forth.It was quite accurate, too!And for those of you wondering, yes, it is a legal suppressor!I don't even know why suppressors are a big deal. Most guns should have them for safety!Thanks to B for letting me shoot it!!

This little puppy here is aSmith and Wesson .41 Magnum, (Lew Horton) Mod 657 with a 3" barrel and comfy Pachmayr grips. Makes quite a bang! Surprisingly accurate for a snubby, I thought.Very nice fit for my hand, as well.I couldn't talk H into donating it to my cause, however! Dang.But I did get to shoot it and caress it, so a big thanks to H, too!

Monday, January 02, 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR, YO!!!Here's hoping your holidays (CHRISTmas and New Years) were safe and happy!!Hope you're in a better mood than this little guy!With aplogies to Butterscotch, who always looks happpy!

Likewise, I hope your coming year is prosperous and blessed.Unless you're an atheist, then I hope it's prosperous and er, uh, well, ... lucky.Karmic?Whatever.

Happy New Year!

HT to J for this Marcel Schurman Christmas card to my daughter, from which this feline was scanned!